


The Trial

by magos186



Series: The Teddy Chronicles [1]
Category: The Magicians (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Episode s03e5 A life in the day, Episode: s03e8 Six Short Stories about Magic, F/M, M/M, Minor Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-19
Updated: 2019-04-27
Packaged: 2020-01-16 09:17:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,759
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18518464
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/magos186/pseuds/magos186
Summary: What if someone unexpected showed up in defense of the High King/Queen during their trial with The Wombat?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Tag to 3.8 – Six Short Stories About Magic. References to 3.5 A Life in the Day. Spoilers if you haven’t watched them. The opening bit in italics is a direct quote from the show. I own nothing.
> 
> I've never written for this fandom, but I started watching the show last month at the suggestion of a coworker and once I finished season 3, several plot bunnies started bouncing all over my head. This is one of them. Comments and criticisms are welcome (please be gentle).

“Would the accused like to give a final statement?” The Wombat asked.

“I have a statement,” Eliot volunteered. _“I…hate…Fillory. It is a backwards, malodorous shithole full of animals who are smarter than they’re supposed to be and humans who are so much dumber. And what you call indoor plumbing, we on Earth would call a war crime. But, when I was drowning, Fillory saved me. And now it’s my turn to save Fillory. But I can’t do that if my head’s in a basket, so if it pleases the – you guys, I demand that this trial/peasant uprising be dismissed.”_

For several moments, no one in the room spoke. They barely drew breath, unsure how to react to the High King’s words. Finally, the “judge” cleared their throat. “If no one has anything else to say –”

“Pardon the interruption,” a man called from the back of the room. He walked to the front, but the king and queen could not see who he was, as he was wearing a long cloak with a hood on. “I would like to say something in defense of our rulers. I know High King Eliot better than almost anyone. When he is hurt, he lashes out and tries to hurt the thing that’s hurting him, in this case the people of Fillory. He does not hate Fillory. When he first arrived, true, he didn’t know what he was doing. However, when he heard the people were starving, that the crops were dying without enough magic to sustain them, he showed Filliorians a new way to farm. We are able to survive now, without magic, because of his instruction. He made peace with the man who tried to kill him and then asked him how to make things better. The king prevented us from going to war with Loria, sacrificing a chance to be with his love, to save us. When we were on the brink of destruction at Ember’s hand, he made such a passionate plea to Umber that the god himself called him majesty, acknowledging him as the true king. And through a gift of the gods, he was sent back to a time when Castle Whitespire was still under construction. He spent fifty years living in this great land. He found love, a family, a home…peace. 

“Since we lost magic, the High King and Queen have acted – well, like they’ve lost their minds. What the people don’t know is that they were being held hostage by the Fairy Queen. While magic is unavailable to humans, the fairies retain theirs. And unless you make a deal with a fairy, or they allow it, no one can see them. At least, until High Queen Margo came up with a plan to trick the fairies into revealing themselves to all Fillorians. With no way to defend themselves, our rulers were forced to do as the Fairy Queen commanded. The only reason you were able to get them here, away from the castle, is because she tricked them back. She has arranged the revolt, this trial, as well as the marriage to the Floaters, which is now void. According to Fillorian law, a marriage must be consummated within the first seven days. It has been nine days since the ceremony and the union was never consummated, deeming it invalid.”

“Who are you that you know such things?” The Wombat asked. 

“I have gone by several names but only one name that matters here in this room,” the man said as he removed his hood to reveal a silver crown upon his head. “I am Crown Prince Theodore Rupert Coldwater-Waugh, son of the current Kings of Fillory.”

A hush fell over the room as everyone seemed to gasp at once. Margo turned her right, a questioning look on her face to find Eliot had gone paler than she’d ever seen him. If he hadn’t been sitting, he would have fallen over. “Te—Teddy?” He said so softly she had to strain to hear him. 

“How did you come to be here, and so old?” The Wombat questioned. 

“A request granted to me by the Winter’s Doe, to come to the time when my fathers would need me most. King Quentin is my father by birth, but I was raised by both he and High King Eliot. My fathers are from Earth, but my mother was Fillorian. I was born here, raised here, had a family of my own here. I am a true Fillorian, so believe me when I say I know that things have not been going well lately. I know you don’t trust the Children of Earth because The Beast was one. Rupert Chatwin was also one and he was a great king. Not every Child of Earth is the same, just as no citizen of Fillory, whether human or animal, is the same. The current rulers are doing everything they can to not only help our nation flourish, but restore magic as well. If you don’t believe me, ask the Great Cock of the Darkling Wood. He is the one who started them on their quest.”

Murmurs broke out amongst the peasants at this revelation.

“As for this trial, I want you to ask yourselves this question. What has Tick Pickwick ever done for the people of this kingdom? He has been trying to subtly sabotage the new rulers, all the while lining his pockets with stolen money. He does not care for the people. He talks about commoners as if they are the dirt beneath his feet. He merely wishes to have all the power again. 

“So I am asking, as a Fillorian, please give our rulers a chance. Now that the people can see the fairies, they have fled back to their realm. Our current kings and queens are the ones who defeated The Beast. They risked their lives to stop that monster once and for all. It wasn’t a Fillorian, it wasn’t Ember or Umber, it was simply a group of people from Earth. They cared enough about Fillory then, when they barely knew anything about it or us, to defeat the monster plaguing our lands for decades. They cared enough to give up their lives on Earth to stay here and try to clean up the mess he left behind. They care enough to subject themselves to your judgement. Since coming here, Queen Alice nearly died. King Quentin had to have his arm rebuilt by the centaurs. Queen Margo lost her eye. And High King Eliot lost his child. They have sacrificed much for this kingdom and its people. All I ask is that you give them a chance, a fair chance, to show you all the good they can still do. Thank you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 4.13 Rant - Spoilers ahead. If you haven't watched then you should skip this.  
> The tribute at the end was beautifully done. I cried. I'll never be able to listen to that song again. That said, I hate the writers. Quentin is my favorite character not just because he's kind of adorkable but because I've struggled for years with severe depression and self harm and I was even suicidal at one point. So to see this character who was all of those things being portrayed in a way that made sense and that I could relate to was fantastic. I thought the writers handled it well and episode 3.6 with the depression monster was so...I thought they did an amazing job with it. But then in 3.7 they just kind of breezed over it and even though he seemed to still be struggling, especially with the anxiety, Poppy kinda forced herself on him. He really didn't look like he had any interest and she didn't really give him a choice. Which pissed me off considering how big a deal they make with consent in other episodes. 
> 
> [Side tangent - I was also seriously displeased with how they handled the loss of Fen & Eliot's daughter. Fen leaves Fillory so she can process and deal with her grief and Julia just forces her into helping the creatures that she feels are responsible for the death. Just because Julia didn't care about the baby she aborted (which I understand) doesn't mean that she should be so callous and unfeeling towards Fen's pain. She kept going on about helping people. Well, Fen was right in front of her and grieving and she didn't help her, just forced her to do something she repeatedly said she didn't want to.]
> 
> Back to the end of season 4 - Quentin was clearly suicidal when he told the monster to strangle him - that he was too tired to care anymore. Then once the monster got all the stones, Julia told him it wasn't over and he said it was. And the look on his face when she told him that she needed him around to remind her to care - I seriously started plotting out a short where he tries to kill himself that night but the monster shows up to stop him. In episode 12, both Margo and Quentin are extremely out of character and I'm sorry but that whole BS with Alice? They don't work as a couple. They never really did. I can't see them becoming a couple again just for the sake of having him be straight for five minutes before he dies. And what happened to his drive to save Eliot? That was his only motivation the entire season. Where did that suddenly go? They were closer than ever, but he just seemed to give up on that too. Regardless of whether they got together, it didn't seem right. Everything happened so fast with the bottles and getting to the mirror realm, Eliot could have bled to death and he never would have known because he wasn't there. It didn't make sense. Julia could have just as easily gone with Alice & Penny. She would have been the perfect choice because she couldn't do magic anyway. 
> 
> I read several interviews after I watched the finale and it's what the showrunners said about his death that pissed me off the most. John McNamara said "Emotionally, Penny provides him with an answer, which is that Quentin was too attached to these people, and they to him, for Quentin to have consciously given up his life. But there’s a saying that a psychiatrist once said to me, which is that the subconscious always gets what it wants, and the conscious mind often never knows." So to me, he's admitting that Quentin did in fact kill himself. And when I watched it, that's what it looked like. He wasn't even trying to get out of the room. They took this character who has grown in leaps and bounds since the first season and they mentally and physically abused him all season at the hands of a man he loves (romantic or platonic) and then gave him a way to end it all while coming across as a hero. He gave up. Plain and simple. And it pisses me off. It's like they're saying here - we gave you friends and love and everyone is safe so you can finally rest now. But the only way for you to do that is to kill yourself. He didn't even fight when he was in the underworld with Penny, just accepted it. He'd never given up on anything before, no matter how hopeless it seemed and now when everything's finally good, he just lets go. In my opinion, he does commit suicide, whether it helps save everyone or not. 
> 
> And the writers are all about how everyone's going to move on from the loss of Quentin. Personally? I could care less about Kady and the hedges, or Penny & Julia, or Josh & Margo. Because what happened to Margo's ferocity and drive to get Eliot back? Just because Josh is a fish? I thought that was the whole point of her being able to take out the eye - that she could leave and he'd be fine. And I really couldn't give a rat's ass about Alice. She betrayed them too many times to be redeemed. If I continue watching, it'll only be to see Eliot's story.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to everyone for all the positive reviews. I'll do my best not to disappoint you with future chapters. I'm not sure how long this is going to be or how often it'll be updated. This is the first thing I've written in a long time so hopefully the creative juices keep flowing. 
> 
> Quick note: This chapter mentions the death of Old Eliot and Old Quentin from 3.05.
> 
> P.S. I couldn't find Eliot's middle name, so I made one up.

The Wombat called for a recess and had the High King and Queen escorted immediately back to the dungeon and their cell. As soon as they were alone, Margo shouted, “What the FUCK Eliot?” as she punched him in the shoulder. “You and Quentin had a kid and you didn’t think to tell me? How is this even possible? I stopped you from going through the clock!”

“I don’t know,” he replied as he sat on the bed, his voice shaky, his face still pale. He didn’t know what else to say either, and simply sat in silence while Margo glared at him. A few minutes later, a guard appeared with the man claiming to be his son and opened the door to the cell. “Teddy? Is that really you?” He asked softly.

“It’s really me Papa,” he replied just as softly as he knelt in front of the man. Eliot reached out a shaking hand, barely breathing. The face in front of him was one he never thought he’d see again. Teddy looked to be about thirty. Eliot’s hand landed gently on the cheek of his son, surprised when it touched warm skin and didn’t pass through. _Not a hallucination then_ Eliot thought to himself. 

“How is this possible?”

“It’s a long story.”

“I have the time,” he joked as the guard locked the cell with his son now on the inside. Teddy sat on the bed next to his father and took his hands in his own. 

“My wife and daughter died during childbirth a few years after dad. That night, mom came to me in a vision. She told me that a time would come when your kingdom, your life would be in jeopardy and that it would be up to me to save you. That’s the gist anyway. So once my kids had grown and had families of their own, I went searching for one of the questing beasts. I found the Winter’s Doe. She was kind enough to grant me two requests. She reduced my age by half and sent me through a portal to this time. I arrived just a couple of days ago. I immediately headed for the Rainbow Bridge to be crowned on the island and then I came straight here once I heard about the trial.”

“I never thought I’d see you again. We somehow still have the memories of the timeline, even though Margo stopped us from going through the clock. We didn’t think…”

“Time travel and the magic of Fillory I guess,” Teddy replied with a shrug. “My best guess is that when you died, your consciousness projected into your past selves? I really don’t get it. Time travel is too confusing.”

“I agree with that.” 

Teddy opened his mouth to ask a question, but then closed it a few seconds later. He repeated this motion several times before Eliot said, “Just ask kiddo. Whatever it is.”

“How—how is he?” Teddy asked, looking up at his Papa. Eliot’s face softened. 

“He’s good, as far as I know. He’s on Earth. We uh—we haven’t had much time to talk since we got back from the mosaic.”

“Uh—excuse me,” Margo said loudly, not willing to be ignored anymore. “What the _fuck_?”

“Bambi—”

“Oh no, don’t you _Bambi_ me Eliot Eugene Waugh! I want to know what’s going on right. the fuck. now.”

“Okay, okay,” Eliot said, holding up his hands in a universal sign of surrender. “Did Q’s letter tell you anything about our lives on the quest for the time key?”

“No, just that you were both dead and it was a long story.”

“Of course that’s all he said,” the man mumbled in response.

“Hey, she’s lucky he wrote that much,” Teddy said, his voice taking on a slightly angry tone. “You weren’t there in the end. You didn’t see how he was after you died.”

“Ted –”

“No,” Teddy said as he stood. “I woke up that morning and just felt…I don’t know just that I needed to get to the cottage. It was late afternoon when I got there. I found you on the ground wrapped in _your_ blanket. There was a small hole near you and the mosaic was completely empty. I looked everywhere but I couldn’t find dad. Nari found him wandering in the woods, miles from home. She tried to ask him what happened, if he was okay, but she couldn’t get him to speak. 

“Jane fricken Chatwin showed up almost immediately after dad got the key. He gave it to her and just kind of broke. The key was gone, you were gone. Nari said he was just aimlessly wandering with a blank look in his eyes. She sent me a rabbit to tell me he was with her. He stayed the night and the next morning I took him home. We buried you next to mom. He lived five more years, but he was never the same. I tried to get him to move in with me, but he refused to leave the cottage so Aster’s daughter moved in with him to take care of him. I think it was more of a blessing than anything when his heart finally gave out.”

“Jesus,” Eliot muttered.

No one said anything for a few minutes. Teddy had moved to stand next to the window, leaning against the wall and staring out into the trees through the bars. When he spoke again, his voice was quiet – sad. “Once upon a time, there was a quest for seven keys. Two magicians traveled through a portal to Fillory, but it was to the past, one hundred years before they were born. They had to solve a puzzle – show the ‘beauty of all life’ using tiles on a mosaic. They spent every day together, living in a small cottage. They fell in love. They made friends, built a life. A few years later, they took on another, a woman who’d worked her way into both their hearts. The three had a beautiful life and then the gods saw fit to grant them a child, a son. When the son was five, the woman passed away. It was heartbreaking, but they survived it. The magicians raised the boy in a home filled with love and adventure. When he was old enough, he left home to find his own way. He too fell in love, had a family of his own. He always knew that at any time, his fathers could solve the puzzle and find the key…that one day he’d go to visit and they’d be gone. He didn’t expect he’d have to bury either of them like he had his mother. Although he wasn’t surprised when the ‘beauty of all life’ turned out to be the life they lived together.”

“Buddy,” Eliot said softly, moving behind his son to wrap his arms around him. “I’m sorry.” Teddy leaned back against his father, placing his hands on Eliot's arms, basking in the warmth of his father's embrace for the first time in years. 

“I really missed you Papa,” he murmured as he ignored the tears trickling down his cheeks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had written a scene where Teddy finds Eliot buried already and Quentin drunk and depressed at the house. Then I rewatched the end of the mosaic section of the episode to double check something and noticed that when Jane left, Quentin's just kind of stumbling around, unsure of what to do next. So I rewrote it this way. What did you think?


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N 1: This chapter contains minor character death (Arielle). I added a tag for it.
> 
> A/N 2: READ BEFORE YOU READ THE CHAPTER!! I’m going to mess around with the timeline. Sorry. I want Quentin to still be dealing with the effects of the depression monster, but that’s behind where Eliot & Margo currently are. Trying to figure out this darn timeline is like this sci-fi short story I had to read in college – this guy time travels and is both his own father and mother. I had to read it literally 20 times until it felt like my brain was melting before it made sense. Anyway, here’s the deal: after the fairy eggs get stashed in the cottage, all the earth stuff with Fen & Fray happens, as well as all the Fillory stuff. Fen gets back to Earth at the same time Eliot & Margo are taken prisoner. All the Julia & Alice stuff happens as well. As for the stuff for the key quest, everything leading up to their discovery of Katie drugged in the hospital happens. It is too late in the day for them to meet with her, but they make an appointment for the next morning. Fen arrives that night. Let me know if you have any questions about the timeline. 
> 
> WARNING: This chapter contains talk of a late-term miscarriage (stillbirth). If this is a trigger for you, the chapter can be skipped as nothing for the plot happens here, just a late night talk between Fen & Quentin. In this story, they're more than acquaintances, but not fully friends yet. Also, please note I am not a medical professional – I just looked some stuff up online.

Fen fell out of the clock into a darkened room, the only light coming from the fireplace. A lone figure in dark clothes sat in front of the fire, a tumbler dangling from his fingertips. He turned his head at the thud she made when she hit the floor. “The door was stuck,” she said softly in explanation. 

“Are you alright?”

“Physically. Can I get one of those?” She asked, pointing to his drink. With a weariness that surprised her, he stood up from the chair to grab her a glass. He poured a few ounces of few ounces of liquor into it and handed it to her before sitting back in his chair, placing the bottle on the floor next to him. Fen hesitated a minute before sitting in the chair next to him. “Are you alright Quentin?”

“It’s been a long week,” he replied, taking a drink. “So what brings you to our humble abode beside the booze?”

“Fray isn’t my daughter, just a random human the Fairy Queen sent to spy on us.”

“I’m sorry. I know we all had our suspicions, but I could see how much you wanted it to be true. Do you know what happened to your daughter?”

“She was stillborn.” Fen guzzled down the liquor in her glass and quickly refilled it. Neither spoke again for a long time, both just stared into the fire, slowly emptying the bottle between them.

“Have you ever heard of The Mosaic?” Quentin asked suddenly. 

“That old legend? About how the gods left a puzzle for man to create the ‘the beauty of all life?’ Hundreds tried for a hundred years, no one ever solved it. Most gave up after a few days, the more determined a few weeks. One day two men appeared and didn’t leave. They lived there and discovered the beauty was in the living, not in the designs they could create.”

“Eliot and I were those two men. I doubt he’s been able to tell you much about the quest so far, what with the ‘pasty usurpers’ everywhere. While you were exploring the city with Todd and Fray, Eliot and I went to retrieve the time key. It sent us to Fillory in the past, like a hundred years before you were even born. The prize for solving the mosaic was the time key. We spent our whole lives there trying to solve it. I got married at one point. She was an amazing woman. She didn’t mind sharing me and our life was wonderful. About a year after we wed, we had a son.”

“I’m really not in the mood to hear about your perfect life,” Fen said bitterly. Quentin didn’t let it deter him though, he just ignored her and continued on.

“When my son was four years old, Arielle got pregnant again. Everything was going fine until one day during her seventh month, she noticed the baby stopped moving. There was a local woman who was both midwife and healer. She came to see Ari, but told her there was nothing she could do. She gave Ari a potion to induce labor. She found the knot in the umbilical cord after the delivery. At that point in my life, it was the most painful thing I’d ever experienced, more so than Alice's death. For my wife though, it was so much worse. There were no words to describe the pain she felt. What happened was a complete fluke, some kind of rare defect. It didn’t stop Ari from blaming herself. Nothing I said or did could help her. Nothing Eliot said or did could help. I think she resented us – powerful earth magicians who were completely powerless to do anything.” He paused for a minute, finishing what was left in his glass and cleared his throat before continuing. “Not even our son was enough to get her out of bed. She wasn’t really sleeping, she wasn’t eating. She was like a ghost. One day, she came outside for the first time in a month and she spent the day with the three of us. I was so proud of her. I thought maybe she was finally healing. She passed away that night. Her grief literally broke her heart. I know there is nothing I can say to you that will help you Fen, just know that I understand the pain you feel. You are not alone here.”

Quentin got up then, leaving his empty glass next to the nearly empty bottle on the floor. Fen continued to stare into the fire, listening as he slowly walked up the stairs to his bedroom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: See, I wanted Quentin in a maudlin, post depression monster headspace, but now I’m in a weird headspace. I tried to write more for this chapter, like what’s going on in Fillory, but I didn’t like the way it flowed so I’m just going to post this chapter as is. More to come soon.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Italics** are a direct quote from the episode. Also, let me know if this chapter sucks because I can’t figure it out and the stupid timeline is just fricken annoying the crap out of me. Why can’t linear time just be a thing? ::bangs head on desk:: This chapter’s going to be all kinds of AU/AR (whichever you prefer). At this point, just forget everything that happened on the show. I swear it’s like I have writer’s …constipation or something. Cause I know where I want to go, but getting there’s all blocked. Worst. ::bang:: Bridge. ::bang:: Ever. ::bang::
> 
> Warning: This chapter mentions the death of Fen & Eliot’s daughter, as well as Julia’s abortion. 
> 
> P.S. I’m not going to call this Julia-bashing, but she and Quentin get into a fight about how she’s being a bully. It pissed me off on the show so I’m dealing with it here. Fair warning.

The next morning, Fen woke to the sound of someone knocking on the door. She had fallen asleep on the couch in the living room at some point. Curiously, she peeked her head over the back of the couch and what she saw nearly froze her heart in her chest. A fairy stood next to a woman she didn’t know who was talking to Julia. She _just_ left her home to escape the vicious creatures, now they were on Earth as well? Was nowhere safe from the wretched things?

Once the redhead was gone, Fen pulled Julia onto a couch and told her about the fairy. Neither of them noticed Quentin standing in the doorway, listening to them talk. When Julia said, **_“Fen, we need to know and I can’t see her. You need to talk to Irene’s fairy.”_** Quentin walked over to them, and grabbed his friend’s hand. He couldn’t stand to listen another minute. 

“Jules, mind if I talk to you real quick?” He asked insistently.

“Think about it,” Julia said as she got up. He pulled her around the stairs, through the back of the house and out into the backyard. “We couldn’t talk inside?” She asked curiously.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” Quentin shouted as he dropped her hand and moved several steps away from her.

“Excuse me?”

“Did you not hear a single thing Fen said to you in that entire conversation?”

“Of course I did, but the fairies might need help.”

“Fen needs help! She just found out that her child is dead. Do you have any idea what that’s like?”

“I can imagine.”

“No, you actually can’t. You didn’t want your baby. You didn’t care about it. Fen loved hers more than anything in the world and she lost her. And now you’re trying to bully her into helping the creatures responsible for her daughter’s death? What the hell is wrong with you?”

“Hey, you don’t get to yell at me about this.” Julia shouted back, stabbing her finger in her friend’s direction. 

_“You,"_ he said, pointing right back at her, "Don’t get to force Fen into doing something she doesn’t want to do. No means no Julia! You want to do good? How about you go make ammends in Fillory for destroying the One-Way Forest. If you want to help the fairies, find a way to do it yourself. Eliot may not be here to tell you to back off, but I am. You leave Fen alone,” he ordered before storming off.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Eliot and Margo stood before The Wombat, surrounded by palace guards and commoners. Teddy stood tall next to his father. “When this trial began,” The Wombat said, “we were ready to depose and execute you. However, the prince made several good arguments. Now that the fairy threat has been dealt with, the people are willing to give you a second chance, so long as you banish the floaters to their island.”

“Amen to that,” Margo agreed. 

“Very well. You may remain in power for now, so long as the prince remains and takes on an active role.”

“Agreed, your honor and thank you,” Teddy said sincerely. 

“Court adjourned,” The Wombat shouted. The guards escorted the commoners from the castle. Once the room was empty, Eliot turned and hugged his son tightly.

“I know I’ve said this before, but you really are the best kid anyone could ask for.”

“Thanks Papa,” Teddy replied with a laugh. “Now, first things first. You two need a bath and I need a list of all the issues the people currently have both with you and things in general.”

“Sounds good. I’ll call the council together on the way to get cleaned up,” Eliot stated before leaving the room. The two remaining occupants stood there, awkwardly staring at each other for several moments.

“So…”

“So…”

“I need a drink, a bath, and some food, in that order,” Margo informed him. “After that, we need to have a chat.”


End file.
